The Scottish Independents chose Hamza Yusuf to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as party leader and thus prime minister. Yusuf, the first Muslim in the history of Scotland to hold this position, promised to lead Scotland to independence “in this generation”.
The Scottish National Party elected Hamza Yusuf as its new leader. And the British “BA Media” agency stated that Hamza will become the youngest prime minister (head of government) in Scotland, after his election to the presidency of the Scottish National Party to succeed Nicola Sturgeon.
Sturgeon, Scotland’s longest-serving first minister, announced last month that she would step down after more than eight years in the job.
And Hamza Yusuf, 37, who is close to Sturgeon, inherits the delicate task of re-launching the independence movement from the United Kingdom, which is losing momentum and collides with London’s refusal to allow a new referendum.
Hamza was Minister of Health and became the first Muslim to head a major political party in Britain. He is supposed to be elected prime minister tomorrow, Tuesday (March 28, 2023), in front of the local parliament in Edinburgh.
Youssef said in his victory speech, “We will be the generation that will achieve the independence of Scotland,” stressing that the “people” of Scotland “need independence as of now, more than ever.”
At the end of an internal poll organized after Sturgeon’s sudden resignation last month after eight years in power, Youssef was ahead of both Finance Minister Kate Forbes, who adopts controversial conservative positions, and Ash Reagan, a former member of the local government.
None of the candidates received more than 50% of the votes in this ballot, as voters classify the candidates in order of preference. Youssef won the second sorting, receiving 52.1%.
And the local government in Scotland, a county of 5.5 million people, can decide on several issues, including education, health and the judiciary.
Hamza Yusuf is ahead of both Finance Minister Kate Forbes and Ash Reagan, a former member of local government.
In the first reaction, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that he was “looking forward to working” with the new leader of the Scottish National Party, Hamza Yusuf, but he rejected the latter’s call for a new referendum on independence.
A Sunak spokesman told reporters that Scots and all Britons wanted politicians to “focus on the issues that matter most to them: bringing down inflation, tackling the rising standard of living and the (hospital) backlog”.
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